Good Knight London!

This photo says it all!

Kitchener beat London in an 8-3 game in front of over 9000 London fans! It was sweet victory! I have always had a soft spot for the goalies on the team and Brandon Maxwell has been taking quite a beating in the media. I was reading the KW Record and this is what it said........

Brandon Maxwell stretched out his arms and embraced his coach Steve Spott.

“We believe in him and he believes in us,” Maxwell said of Spott after Monday's 8-3 Game 7 win over the London Knights before 9,090 at the John Labatt's Center.

“It’s really great to play for a coach like that.”

This makes me smile! This is why I love OHL hockey so much. It can be competitive, aggressive and exciting. When it comes down to it, the players on this team are just kids and they lean on their teammates and coaches (their family) for support.

Jason will never play at this level of hockey, but he has that same 'family' that he has grown up with since he was 5 or 6 years old. I am thankful he has been part of a team that has given him some of my favourite qualities.

Congratulations to the Rangers and good luck in the next round!

Amazing Day!

Here we are in St. Catherine's at a hockey tournament for Jason's select team. It is the last of the hockey for him this year. He has played select hockey for the past 5 years and really enjoys the guys on this team. It changes a bit from year to year, but there are many of the same kids returning.

This year he shares the net with a newcomer to the team. His name is Kyle. You will notice there is a slight difference in size, but they are the same age. Kyle hung out with us yesterday until his dad could get off work. He missed the first game, but made it to the second one.

Jay had to get a new hockey bag a couple of weekends ago. His other one was falling apart. This one even fits his pads.

Here they are heading into the rink for their first game.

David usually travels with us, but he is hanging with his dad this weekend and they are staying at a different hotel. We won't see him much, except at the rink. I will do my best to snap a few photos of him when I can.

Here is Jay and Kyle waiting to go out for their game.....see what I mean about the size difference?

Now don't get me wrong, when Jay puts on all his equipment he does look rather large. Without his mask, his head looks like a pea on top of those broad shoulders.

This is the dressing room. I would just love to know what goes on in there. It takes them and entire hour to get ready for a game.........that is a lot of time to get dressed.

Here the team waits for the Zamboni to finish flooding the ice.

This is the warm up.

Oh, I got a good action shot of David here.

After the game we went and checked into our hotel room. Our room overlooks a courtyard and they have mini golf and a huge chess game out there. It is a great place for the guys to hang out and burn off some of their energy.

Here we are at the second game.......team huddle before they start.

This is where Jay spends all his time......between the red pipes.

They do the handshake before the game. Again, check out the sized difference with those goalies.

Here are a few action shots of Jason during the game.







And here is my favourite coach, hard at work!

We won the first game and lost the second one. We have 2 games today and we have our fingers crossed for 2 more wins.

Monty, Jason and I enjoyed a very nice dinner at Montana's last night and then we watched The Blind Side in our room. Normally Jay brings his X-Box with him and I have a room full of kids. This was a refreshing change.

We had another bit of exciting news yesterday too. Jason got his first job at the Galaxy. Amanda called us last night and said there was a message on the phone for Jay to call. We called as soon as we got back to the room and he starts on Monday. He spent quite a bit of time on my computer last night, chatting with his friends on MSN, spreading the news.

The sun is shining here and our first game is not until 4:45 today. My guys are still sound asleep as I type this. I am going to get them up and head out for breakfast, then we will see what sort of trouble we can get in for the rest of the day. Have a good one!

It Was A Nail Biter!

As most of you know, I am a die hard hockey fan. My son Jason, is my#1 super star, but right behind him are MY BOYS, the Kitchener Rangers.

My hubby and I spend most Friday nights at the Kitchener Auditorium watching our team play. It is our 'date night'. I wouldn't want him to take me anywhere else.

The Rangers are in playoff's right now, in the second round. It is a seven game series against our biggest rivals......the London Knights. After last night, the series is tied 2-2! We are the underdogs and our win was not a pretty one, but we did come out on top. The 5th game is being played in London tonight (oh how I wish I could go) and I will be glued to my TV! The Rangers have lost 9 straight games in the London arena, but I have my fingers crossed. They will return to home ice on Saturday night but I won't be able to attend. Jason has a hockey tournament in St. Catherine's, but I will be watching from there.

It has been a wonderful year of ups and downs for The Rangers, and no matter how this ends, I will still be one of their biggest fans.

GO RANGERS!

Little Red Wagon #23

It is Wednesday, and that means another challenge over at Little Red Wagon. My BFF made this awesome sketch and challenged us to use this when creating our cards this week. I love sketches. Here is my take on the sketch! Today is my dad's birthday, so I used the sketch to make him a special card. All the papers are scraps from my stash. I didn't cut into a full sheet of anything. The letters are old ones from Scenic Route (also not a brand new sheet). Ribbon is from American Crafts and I added some detail with a white pen and did some paper piercing.

I used a digital stamp that I had saved (not sure where I got it from, sorry). I printed it on a piece of white cardstock and then I printed it three more times on my pattern papers. I cut the images out of the patterns and adhered them on top of the image on the white using foam adhesive. I love to paper piece and thought I would try it out with this image. I love how it turned out.

When I was surfing the net the other night, I came across this challenge at Moxie Fab World so I thought I would enter my card there as well. I love some of the samples they show using the paper piecing. I hope you find time to play along with Joanne's challenge. Be sure to check out what the rest of the team has created by clicking on their names on my sidebar!

Oh ya, Happy Birthday DAD!

Movie Club Review!

It has been a while since I did a movie review. The girls and I did get together in March, but I ended up leaving the movie early because I wasn't feeling the best. I probably shouldn't have gone in the first place.

Tonight's get together was very last minute. It was Joanne's turn to pick and with us having such a busy month at the store we didn't even know if we would get a chance to get together with our club members. Thankfully it worked for everyone and we all made it.

Before I get to the movie review I want to fill you in on a little conversation I had with Jay (middle son) this evening. He has been out job hunting and one of the places that he has applied is the Galaxy! He had an interview on Saturday evening, that he felt went really well. We found out on Monday that the Galaxy had called one of his references (because he called to tell Jay) so we are hoping that is a good sign. Jay was also heading to the movies tonight and before we left he told his dad that if the Galaxy called tonight......tell them he is at the movies. We continued to joke and make up scenarios.......like how they would come into the theater and call out his name and announce to everyone that he got the job! We both have our fingers crossed that he hears something soon.

Anyways......on to the review! Joanne picked The Last Song! I didn't know this until recently, but there is a book and it is written by the same author that wrote The Notebook and A Walk To Remember. These are two of my favourite movies (I don't read books). I was very excited to see this movie and I had no idea what it was about. I knew that Miley Cyrus was staring in it and that was good enough for me.

I don't want to give you too much information, but basically Ronnie (Miley) and her brother stay with their dad for the summer and Ronnie is not happy about it. She meets this 'hunk of a guy' and falls in love. There is a lot more that goes on, but you get the idea. I highly recommend that you bring tissues, because you are going to need them.

I rate this one a 9! It was fabulous..........thanks Joanne, great pick! Oh by the way, we made a new rule with the movie club......whoever picks the movie has to supply the necessary amount of tissue required. Hope you get a chance to get out and see this one!